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This tea is absolutely perfect. It’s a blend of black tea, hibiscus and cornflowers. In my as yet non-existent Venn diagram of every tea in the whole world ever, it will occupy the same space as Earl Grey. It is a very different tasting tea but is also a flowery black tea that can be enjoyed regularly with one’s breakfast or indeed at any and all times one fancies a cuppa.
In fact, I imagine there’s an alternative universe where, rather than Earl Grey, Piccadilly is the go-to standard option for tea fanciers. One would routinely be offered it at cafes, hairdressers and the better sort of bed and breakfast. And as with Earl Grey in this universe, everyone will have an opinion on it. There will be people who love it. And people who are wrong.
Piccadilly is not, in short, a novelty tea. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against novelty teas. Most of the teas that I review fall firmly into that category. If a teamonger brings out a blend of black tea, aubergine, nutmeg and popping candy, I’m going to be first in line to try it out. But Piccadilly blend is in another league altogether.
The tea is named after the street in London which is famously one of the squares on the Monopoly board. I look forward to Whittard releasing a full set of Monopoly-based infusions. Mayfair will presumably be gold flecked and cost £400 a pop. Fleet Street will taste of newsprint and long boozy lunches. Trafalgar Square will have the delicate flavour of feral pigeons. Free parking will simply be a cup of hot water.
In the course of my research, I have discovered that the street gets its name from the piccadill. This is the large lace collar favoured by the fancy folk in the 16th and 17th centuries, and which were made and sold by Robert Baker in the area. This is a marvellous bit of trivia, which I will henceforth wheel out at every opportunity.
Piccadilly features in numerous literary works, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and, most notably, PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster books. Whittard have numbered this tea 93 in their non sequential and rather arbitrary numbering system in honour of Wodehouse’s age when he died.
None of the characters in these books are to be found sipping on cups of Piccadilly tea, sadly. However, in the alternate universe I have imagined, they would be. Everybody – fictional and nonfictional alike – would be putting away cups of the stuff on a regular basis. As well they should. Because it is absolutely bloody marvellous.
Today’s guest book is Thank You, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse.
